swiss politics and political institutions: 6. what about the citizens? prof. dr. andreas ladner impa...

Swiss politics and political institutions:

6. What about the citizens?

Prof. Dr. Andreas Ladner

iMPA 2013

| ©IDHEAP – Andreas.Ladner@idheap.unil.ch | | 21/04/23 |

Module 1

1. Society and History

2. Federalism and Municipalities

3. Government and Parliament

4. Direct Democracy

5. Party system and Parties

6. What about the citizens?

What makes people vote what makes them decide for a specific party?

Sociological approaches (class, occupation, ethnicity,

sex, age)

Approaches of political scientists (issues, political

programs, electoral campaigns, and the popularity of

party leaders )

Social psychological approaches (relate voting decisions

to the voter's psychological predispositions or attitudes,

for example party identification)

Rational Choice (cost-benefit calculations)

Spatial theories of voting

Proximity Voting (Downs 1957)

Directional Voting (Rabinowitz und Macdonald 1989)

Rouiller 2009:2

References

Budge, I. and D. Farlie (1983). Explaining and Predicting Elections: Issue Effects and Party

Strategies in Twenty-Three Democracies. London: George Allen & Unwin.

Downs, A. (1957). An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Grofman, Bernard (1985): The Neglected Role of the Status Quo in Models of Issue Voting.

In: The Journal of Politics, 47, 230-237.

Iversen, Torben (1994): Political Leadership and Representation in West European

Democracies: A Test of Three Models of Voting. In: American Journal of Political Science, 45-

Kedar, Orit (2005): When Moderate Voter prefer Extreme Parties: Policy Balancing in

Parliamentary Elections. In: American Political Science Review 99: 185-199.

Rabinowitz, G. and S. E. Macdonald (1989). 'A Directional Theory of Issue Voting', The

American Political Science Review, 83(1): 93-121.

Stokes, D. E. (1963). 'Spatial Models of Party Competition', The American Political Science

Review, 57(2): 368-77.

Who takes part in elections?

Hommes = men; Femmes = women

Participation in popular votes according to age

blue = over 30 years old; red = under 30 years old

Participation according to age and gender

Hommes = men; Femmes = women

What leads to higher participation: education, income and marriage

Non-participation

The voting decision according to age

Life cycle or generation effects?

Swiss People’s PartyLiberal Party

Christian Democrats

Social Democrats

Green Party

Catholics and Voting Decision 1995 to 2007

Christian Democrats

Swiss People’s Party

Dealignment and Realignment

Dealignment: The Catholics no longer vote for the Christian Democrats

only; and the workers no longer vote for the Social Democrats.

Realignment: The Swiss People‘s Party found a new group of followers

with its program based on traditional, conservative Swiss values and a

strong stance against immigration and international integration.

The Social Democrats also found a new group of followers among better

educated professionals working for the state sector or in creative

professions.

The voters on a left-right scale

Who would the non voters vote for?

Liberal Party

Christian Democrats

Social Democrats

Green Party

Preferences non voters

Preferences voters

Who would the non voters vote for?

Liberal Party

Christian Democrats

Social Democrats

Green Party

Preferences non voters

Preferences voters

How will we vote in future? From a show of hands and ballot boxes ...

... to postal voting, and then?

E-voting

Pre-VotingSphere

VotingSphere

Post-VotingSphere

Campaign and decision making

The act of voting

Analysis, control

Elections for the National Council 2007

3089 candidates

311 lists

How to find the right party or the right candidate?

The Swiss voting system: (party) lists with “Kumulieren” and “Panaschieren”

VAAs (Voting Advice Applications)

Election – Democracy UK – 280k

CH: www.smartvote.ch

smartvote Profil | Wahlempfehlung

Kategorien Anzahl Fragen davon

beantwortet Aussen- & Sicherheitspolitik 3 3

Bildung & Forschung 2 2

Finanz- & Steuerpolitik 1 1

Gesellschaft, Kultur & Ethik 4 4

Innere Sicherheit 2 2

Migrations- & Ausländerpolitik 2 2

Sozial- & Familienpolitik 4 4 Staatliche Institutionen & Volksrechte

Umwelt-, Verkehrs- & Energiepolitik

Wirtschaftspolitik 3 3

Policy domains

Questionnaire

Genug Fragen beantwortet?

Zur Wahlempfehlung

“Advice or recommendation”

Matching list (Candidates or parties)

Additional information

You compared to the candidate/party (smartspider)

Some results from our studies

Increasing and high participation of candidates (from 50 % in 2003 up to more than 80 % of about 3000 candidates in 2007)

The candidates seem to like the tool!

Increasing use of the tool (900’000 recommendations, about 300’000 users in 2007, 8 % of the voters)

Highly satisfied users (over 90 %)

The tool addresses specific parts of the population

Smartvote matters in terms of turnout and in terms of the outcome of elections

And what’s next?

The tunnel!

Le vote électronique

Smartvote

Smartvote 200+: From the matching list to the ballot list

Let’s open the tunnel?

The last meter

Smartvote gives us the possibility to select

electronically

E-Voting gives us the possibility to vote electronically

=> There is (are) only one (a few) click(s) from the

selection to the vote!

Additional tools:

Smartmonitor (roll call votes)

Smartinfo (for initiatives and referendums)

The more demanding an electoral (political)

system is, the more helpful are such e-tools.

If e-tools matter, they are also used.

E-tools have to be simple and user-friendly.

Conclusions

www.mypolitics.ch

Thank you for your attention!

swiss politics and political institutions: 6. what about the citizens? prof. dr. andreas ladner impa...

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